The Taiwan Railway Administra-tion's (TRA) plan to offer free wireless Internet service to passengers came under fire from interested bidders in an explanatory meeting yesterday.
Some questioned the feasibility of providing Internet service to passengers on trains that would be moving at high speed.
They also asked if the fact that the TRA's trains had been manufactured in a number of different countries would lead to complications in implementing the wireless service.
Others questioned why the TRA required contractors to build a dedicated fiber-optic network, since it already has a nationwide fiber-optic network. Still others asked why the TRA wanted to offer the service for free.
Daniel Kuo (郭樹堂), a Unite Communication Technology consultant and one of the chief organizers of the build-operate-transfer project, said a special task force had spent two years evaluating its viability.
He said the administration had simulated different scenarios, including when trains are traveling at high speed and when they are moving through underground tunnels. He said that test results, which would be included in the bid document, showed that the project was viable.
Kuo added that the TRA's existing fiber-optic network had been partially leased to Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom. To avoid outages, contractors bidding for the onboard wireless Internet service were required to build their own network, he said.
And since the winning contractor would have the exclusive right to operate the service for 20 years, it would benefit from being able to tailor the fiber-optic network to its needs, he said.
Kuo said the free service would be marketed as a reward for TRA customers. Placing an additional charge on the service would be unreasonable and against the principles of the Statute for Promoting Private Participation in Public Infrastructure Projects (促進民間參予公共建設法), he said.
When asked how the contractor was supposed to make any profit from the deal, Kuo said the contractor could explore alternative sources of revenue.
None of the major telecom players, such as Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile Corp and Far EasTone, attended the TRA meeting yesterday.
However, financially troubled Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom and Chunghwa Wideband Best Network Co, which recently failed in its bid for a WiMAX license, were present.
Unite Communication is also a consultant for Chunghwa Wideband Best Network.
The TRA did not provide detailed technical specifications on the wireless technology requirement for the project, but it did say that bidders must be prepared to invest NT$4 billion (US$121 million) to NT$5 billion in the project.
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